


Within The Hour (Give Or Take)

by teeslover



Series: Rick Tyler legitimately has future sight [1]
Category: Stargirl (TV 2020), Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Visions in dreams
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:27:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25103137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teeslover/pseuds/teeslover
Summary: “It’s just…. uhhh. It’s gonna sound crazy... and stupid.”“Crazy and stupid? Pretty on-brand for us, if we’re being honest.” Courtney said with a chuckle, trying to be encouraging.Rick stood up and exhaled, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “Uhh, well. I think..." Ok, he'll say it, he’s just gonna say it. “I think I’m psychic?”"...You're right, that is crazy."--In other words, Rick finds out he's been having visions of the actual future.
Series: Rick Tyler legitimately has future sight [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1845844
Comments: 5
Kudos: 30





	Within The Hour (Give Or Take)

**Author's Note:**

> The show might go down this route in the future, but basically in the comics, Rick Tyler gets an hourglass that lets him see an hour into the future. He doesn't have that in this story because, apparently, there was a show pitched a while ago about Hourman where he finds out "the visions that have plagued him since childhood are actually glimpses of tragic events occurring one hour in the future."
> 
> So I basically just took that premise, making him a metahuman, and turned it into this! 
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy!

“Rick, what about you? Rick?”

“Rick!”

“Huh?” The boy in question just about slipped clean off his chair as he was jerked awake by the braided brunette across from him. He groaned as he rubbed at his eyes, focusing on the other three at the table. “Sorry, what?”

“Are you ok?” Beth asked, edging closer to get a better look at him.“I saw you were falling asleep in history earlier. I mean, I know it’s boring, but-”

“I wasn’t sleeping, I was… dozing off,” Rick defended. Not like he could’ve fallen asleep anyway. He had been nursing a headache all morning and in every class he had started to drift, he kept dreaming about school for some reason. The hallways, the courtyard, even the cafeteria, and he definitely did not want to deal with the likely source of his migraines in both the dreaming and waking world. 

“But you’re not feeling fatigued or anything, right?” Courtney reiterated with a bit more urgency. “Like, this isn’t a side effect of the hourglass or something?”

“No, I just… had a rough night yesterday.” Rick squeezed his eyes shut and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “My uncle came home drunk and was throwing bottles and yelling at me about, I don’t know, anything… everything. You know, just a general temper tantrum. I didn’t get much sleep.”

“Oh my god.” Beth exchanged concerned glances with the other two girls. “If you ever need to get away from that, you can always stay with me! My parents would probably jump for joy if I had a friend over.”

“Yeah, seriously,” Courtney agreed. “My stepbrother can always sleep with me or my parents for a couple nights, his room’s yours, just say the word.”

“Same,” added Yolanda. “That’s not something you should have to go home to.”

“Uhh, thanks guys, really, but it’s fine, I can handle him.” Rick felt all eyes were still on him, despite that low effort attempt to assure them, and was now growing more uncomfortable by the second. “Anyway, what were you talking about?”

“Mr. Dugan asked if we wanted to try more "in depth" training after school on Friday,” Beth informed him between bites of her apple. “Over in the woods to see how well we can actually handle this stuff. Sounds like a fun way to spend the afternoon! You in?”

“Sure, I guess.”

“Great!” Courtney beamed at them. “Meet me in front tomorrow and we can carpool out there.” 

Behind her, in the swarm of hungry teenagers, Rick zeroed in on two football players that had just obtained a plate of chili cheese fries from one of their girlfriends. 

The two jocks started to pass the semi-congealed mound of meat and potatoes between each other, launching it over open trash cans and heads of friends. It seemed their only goal was just to try and not drop it. This went on successfully for about two more passes. 

On the third toss, the shorter of the two backed up a little too far, tripping into a passing girl and her tray full of food, causing her to fall and drop all of it, and for the fries to land directly in the boy’s crotch. Laughter erupted from that side of the cafeteria, spreading like wildfire until everyone’s attention was on the accident, the two victims running out to clean themselves up shortly after.

Rick watched it all with a great degree of attentiveness, suddenly recalling the strange series of school-related dream sequences that had appeared to him not an hour earlier. They had all blurred together at this point and he could hardly remember any details, but what had unfolded in front of him triggered an extreme sense of deja vu. “I knew that would happen,” he thought aloud.

“Yeah, well,” Yolanda said with a sigh, turning away from the fiasco to finish her lunch. “When you have two idiots play hot potato with an uncovered plate of chili fries, it’s not exactly a logical leap to guess it’s not gonna end well.”

Rick leaned back in his seat. She was right, of course. Anyone could’ve guessed from that series of events that something was obviously going to go wrong. He thought nothing of it for the rest of the day, his other daydreams similarly forgotten.

* * *

_ A quarter of the way down the path to school, a small Yorkshire terrier starts yapping its head off as someone walks past the yard.  _

_ A small girl runs out and grabs hold of her pup, lugging it back indoors. She’s saying something to the passerby, but it’s sort of muted. Only a few words come out clearly: New - name Cookie - says - cute - loud. There’s a few cars cruising ahead; one white and black, another a very washed out blue beater car. _

_ In the halls of the school, a boy has trouble opening his locker. The code is wrong. He tries a third time just as the school bell rings. He hits the steel in frustration. A thrown stray paper airplane nearly collides with his eye as he forgoes the books and rushes off to class. Now in the classroom, the teacher’s coffee thermos slips out of her hand- _

~ ~ ~

Rick woke up, bleary-eyed, to the harsh blaring of his alarm clock, the last remnants of his dream fading away. It must’ve been going off for a good 30 seconds to have reached the near police siren decibel levels it was currently at. 

Moaning, he slapped the deafening box off the table, sending it tumbling to the floor, then buried his head under his pillow. The stupid thing was so annoying, he routinely ignored it to go back to sleep, which was why he was late most of the time. How much did it really matter if he missed first period anyway? It was just English and they were always reading Macbeth or something about the Protestants or analyzing some pretentious main character. He didn’t care about all of that.

But given the only alternative was to spend the day around his uncle, he’d much rather suffer through bad class read-throughs and Socratic circles.

He groaned in exasperation as he rolled off his bed and got ready quickly, making sure to check for the hourglass stuffed in the bottom of his backpack. Walking out of his room, he rolled his eyes at the sight of his legal guardian sprawled out on the couch in his boxers, empty bags of chips and bottles of beer scattered on the floor below him. 

Rick walked down the dirt path, shielding his eyes from the brightly shining sun overhead. His head still hurt a bit and the rest of his body had a dull ache permeating through it, but he wasn't in nearly as much pain as he thought he'd be in, what with the beat down he suffered a couple days ago. Guess that was just another thing to thank the hourglass for. 

To his right, he saw a man pass by the metal wire fence that enclosed his neighbor's yard. He had a cigarette hanging from his lips and had stopped in front of the gate to light it. Almost instantly, a little ball of fur came bounding out to bark incessantly at the man.

_ Oh, that must be their new dog, Cookie,  _ Rick thought to himself. Wait, how did he know that? He's never even looked in his neighbors' direction, let alone pay attention to their pets or lack of them. 

A little girl came out a few seconds later, the screen door slamming behind her. “Sorry, Mr. Reyes!” Rick heard her yell out as she dropped the small terrier back into the house. “We just got a new doggy! I named her Cookie, do you like it? My brother says she's really cute, but my mom keeps saying she's sooo loud.”

As Rick kept walking, he couldn't keep his eyes off them. What was going on, was he experiencing some glitch in the matrix? Or was he so in his own world, he just never noticed he knew that already? Why did that, and the incident yesterday, feel so familiar to him? 

While he continued to deliberate over this, he neglected to watch where he was going and nearly got hit by a white and black Camaro as he tried to cross the street. The driver honked loudly at him, so he backed up, letting the car continue on its way first. There was a faded blue car trailing behind it and Rick let that one pass too, even as its driver flipped him off. 

Finally arriving at school, he got through the front doors just as the first bell rang. He made his way over to his English class, but stopped short at the open door, something compelling him to look down the hallway. About 10 feet away, there was a guy frantically spinning his locker padlock, hitting it when it didn’t open. 

“Watch out,” Rick muttered, mostly to himself, not entirely sure what would even warrant him saying that. 

The guy- Cameron, Rick recognized- turned around anyway, a rogue paper airplane hitting him in the back of the head once he did. He picked up the now crumpled plane, quickly smiled at Rick as a sort of acknowledgment and rushed to class, throwing the paper into a trash can.

As more students started filing in, Rick slowly made his way into the classroom, a little weirded out. A girl squeezed past him, trying to claim a seat for her friend, and bumped into their teacher, Ms. Thompkins, in her haste, causing her to drop the metal thermos she was holding in surprise.

Before he could even process what was happening, Rick had already reached out and caught the Hydro Flask as soon as it was knocked down. He stared at it in confusion, even as Ms. Thompkins took it back. 

“Good catch, Mr. Harris,” she complimented, “thank you.” 

“Yeah,” Rick said blankly, backing away to find a desk.  _ What the hell? _

* * *

At lunchtime, Courtney had just finished relating to them how Mike was definitely gonna get diabetes because he’d had nothing but his science project candy for the past 2 days. Now Yolanda was talking about… Fight Clu- Southpa- Creed…? One of those boxing movies. Rick tried his hardest to pay attention, but couldn’t stop going over the day’s events. It wasn’t like anything that happened was really that out of the ordinary. Maybe that’s why he thought it all felt familiar, because it was all mundane happenstance. Or maybe it was-

“Earth to Rick?” Yolanda’s voice interrupted his train of thought, a snap of her fingers bringing him back to attention. 

“Hmm?”

“You’ve been staring out into the middle distance for, like, 5 straight minutes,” Beth informed him. “Are you sure everything’s alright?” 

“We can postpone the training if you’re not feeling up to it,” said Courtney, her eyes searching him as if she was trying to diagnose a potential illness. “There’s always the weekend.”

“No, it’s fine. Seriously, nothing’s wrong,” Rick replied, waving off their concern. “I was just thinking about something. Oh, that reminds me. Beth, can I borrow your physics notes? I was barely listening the whole time.” 

“Uhh, I would love to give them to you.” Beth paused to pull out a spiral bound notebook. “The only problem is my handwriting is a mess and my notes are usually not legible to anyone besides me.” She flipped through the pages, each one filled to the brim with graphite, even the margins were overflowing. It just looked like a bunch of words mashed together, at least to the untrained eye. “Sorry, I write a lot down.”

“Wow, that is impressive, actually.” Yolanda remarked, looking through a page with Newton's Laws of Motion on it, all sorts of equations and diagrams surrounding it. 

“Ugh, I don’t even wanna think about that until 6th period.” Courtney lamented, already regretting having leaned over to take a peek.

Yolanda laughed as she shut the book to keep the math a safe distance away. She then reached into her bag and handed over a purple composition notebook. “Here, you can borrow mine. I know we have different class periods, but hopefully, they match up.” 

Rick tucked it into his binder, exhaling with relief. “Thanks, I’ll get it back to you later today.” 

“Take your time, I won’t need it ‘til Monday.” The three of them then went back to being completely engrossed in talking about Michael B. Jordan.

His next two classes passed by normally and Rick had pushed unraveling potential time loop mysteries to the back of his mind, focusing more on remembering deadlines for homework assignments. It was now 6th hour, his free period, so he decided to go up to the library for a place to copy down all those fun equations.

He opened up the purple notebook, a swirl of word problems, formulas, and drawings of directional weight falls looking back at him. He never was that great at chemistry, which he had last year, not like his dad obviously was. But physics… that came pretty easy to him, and the hourglass and the Wildcat suit defied various known laws of it, so that was fun to think about late at night. As such, he didn't actually need these notes, he just needed a distractor.

He spent the rest of the hour idly flipping through a world history textbook, trying to finish a take home quiz, before ultimately deciding to return to Yolanda’s notes for easier reading. 

5 or so minutes before the final bell was about to ring, Rick packed everything up and made his way to the front parking lot to meet up with everyone else. He passed through the empty halls, save for a few stragglers, probably students who also had a free period or were let out early. 

Out of nowhere, he felt a wave of nausea wash over him, the fluorescent lights up above becoming increasingly overwhelming. Making a beeline for the bathroom, he ducked into a stall just in time to make it to the toilet and throw up. 

Stumbling over to the sink to clean up, Rick kept his eyes squeezed shut, the combination of bright lights and a returning throbbing of his head threatening to send him back over to the porcelain throne. He pressed a finger to his temple, the pressure barely alleviating the tension. Then, as if all of that wasn’t stressing him out enough, he started seeing things. Like... in his mind’s eye. At first, unfamiliar images of Beth, Yolanda, and Courtney sped through, like he was watching something on fast forward. Were they at the Dugan household? He could only make out really short sequences, but it was lost before he could notice anything that didn’t seem inconsequential. This continued on at its fast pace for a few more seconds, until it suddenly stopped and gave way to a more clear… uhh, vision?

_ “I’m not so sure I should be enabling you guys like this.” Pat announces from his STRIPE armor. “This is way too dangerous.” _

_ “Which is why we should be doing it!” Courtney counters, staff at the ready and gleaming with excitement. “If we have any hope of taking on the Injustice Society, we should start training with a moving target!” _

_ The armor powers up, and Pat’s voice rings out in the relative quiet of the forest. “Yeah, I’m also still on the fence about letting you do that, so don’t push it.” He leans down to grab a duffle bag on the ground, bringing out a few projectiles. Palming a baseball, he hesitates to throw it, once again asking, “you know this is a terrible idea, right?” _

_ “Relax!” Yolanda pipes up, reaching up to stretch out before settling on a fighting stance. “We’ve got this.” Beside her, Beth shoots him a thumbs-up, adjusting her goggles.  _

_ A heavy sigh comes from the robotic structure, even as it tees up a pitch. “Ok,  _ Mid-Nite _ , ready?”  _

_ Beth squeals out a yes, and mere moments later, a fastball comes barreling towards her. She ducks out of its path with ease, and quickly pops back up, clapping with excitement. “Wow, that was so cool!” she exclaims, turning towards everyone watching. “Chuck analyzed the ball’s trajectory based on Mr. Dugan’s movements and showed me everything in, like, this weird slo-mo! It felt like I was in the Matrix!” _

_ Next, it’s Yolanda’s turn. She backs up toward a tree, watches as the robot flicks a large screwdriver in her direction and gracefully flips up into the branches. She lands with a soft thud in a typical superhero pose. She then takes a bow.  _

_ Courtney couldn’t look more at ease as she used her staff to strike back the three tennis balls hurtling towards her in succession. She gives the staff a little twirl, then offers it a high five, which it happily returns. _

_ “Rick, I really don’t know about this.” Pat pauses when it winds down to his turn. “I know, I know, super-strong. You can crush this equipment, but you want me to just fire my whole fist at you? I can’t do that!” _

_ “Pat, it’s all right! Promise!” Courtney chimes in again, glancing towards Rick to make sure he agrees before continuing. “Solomon Grundy’s not gonna hold back and neither will the rest of them, he can do this!” _

_ “If you’re sure.” Pat looks for confirmation and, once he gets it, readies to part with his left fist, making sure it’s set to launch at its lowest available speed and strength. “Ready?” _

_ Ricks nods and calls out, “Yeah, let’s do it!” He braces himself once he hears hydraulics hissing and- _

~ ~ ~

That’s the last thing Rick sees before it all fades away and he’s still standing over the bathroom sink. 

How long had he been in there? He pulled out his phone, only having received one text from Courtney telling him where she was waiting. It was 2:02. He was only a couple minutes late. Splashing his face with water and trying his best to ignore the pounding in his head, he shouldered his backpack and rushed out.

Finding his teammates waiting near the destroyed Blue Valley High School sign, he grabbed the notebook from his bag to use it as an excuse.

"Hey," he greeted, presenting the book to Yolanda. "Sorry I'm late. I was finishing up.”

“That was so fast, you’re already done?” she asked, incredulous. “I fell asleep in that class once and I was lost for the next week!”

Rick shrugged in response. “Your notes were really good.”

“You’re just in time,” Courtney smiled at him, looking out into the line of cars picking up their kids. She pointed to the recognizable red and white Buick. “Pat got a little backed up.”

Piled into the car, they drove first to the Dugan home. Pat went to give the other members of the family an excuse, presumably that the kids were all hanging out and he needed to work on the bent truck in his shop, while Courtney snuck out with her outfit and staff. 

They then arrived at the garage, where Pat gathered up a few essentials. The girls were now dressed and briefing him on their training ideas. When Pat vehemently denied, they were all ready to counter him with sound reasoning.

Rick stayed in the back and let them hash it out. He didn’t really hear any of it, still very much in a daze. He was trying to remember all the details of the vision… or hallucination or consequence of sleep deprivation, he didn’t know what to call it. The throbbing of his head had lessened substantially, and it was starting to clear up some. But he was remembering things that had just happened, like seeing Courtney slink around her brother and out the door, so he couldn’t quite tell if he had known that was going to happen. Was he seeing the future? Was he imagining things he wanted to happen? Maybe he was just losing it, that sounded the most plausible at this point.

A couple minutes later, he saw the girls cheer and Pat shake his head even as he climbed into his giant armor. Wow, they broke him down quick, though Rick figured the older man knew they needed something more dynamic and practical if they had any hope of surviving. At least this way it was a controlled, friendly environment.

In the forest, far enough away from the town that they were well hidden, the four of them stood at the ready as Pat picked up a few things from the duffel he brought. “You know this is a terrible idea, right?”

“Relax,” Yolanda shouted back. "We've got this!"

_ Holy shit,  _ Rick thought as he watched Beth flash a thumbs-up and giddy grin. He watched her dodge the ball, watched Yolanda disappear into the leaves, watched Courtney use her staff like a bat.  _ Oh my god, everything’s the same. _

“Ready?” Pat asked, aiming and steadying his arm in Rick’s direction.

“Yeah,” Rick heard himself echo, matching his memory.

So, what, he could just suddenly see the future now? When did that happen? How? Did it have something to do with the hourglass? Was it all just a coincidence? Unfortunately, it was a terrible idea to be distracted with this barrage of questions because as soon he processed the familiar sound of moving machinery, it was already too late. 

Next thing he knew, a metal fist had collided into him, knocking him on his ass. He must've hit the ground hard, because he was seeing literal stars. Oh, no, wait, that was just Courtney. 

“Rick,” the blonde cried out, with Beth and Yolanda moving to help him up, as Pat clambered out of STRIPES. “Are you ok!?” 

Did he respond just now or did it just come out as a groan? 

He probably didn’t form any words, because then Pat said, “all right, we’re done for today. We’ll pick this up another time.”

Back in the garage, after they had all changed, Rick sat in a corner, lost in thought. He just saw the future come true. Well, almost, minus the getting hit part. The vision did end right before that, though, so maybe that is what happened. Did it lead him to a self-fulfilling prophecy by distracting him? What if he had decided to just… not go today? Would he have gotten another vision? Wait, could he change the future?

"Hey, Rick," Pat walked over, flanked by the other three, breaking him out of his theorizing. "Everything alright? The girls were telling me you've been pretty out of it for a couple days now. Is it your uncle, because I'll do anything I can to get you out of there, if that's what you need."

"What? No, it's nothing like that," Rick replied, feeling bad he made them worry. "Sorry, I've just been a little… stressed, that's all."

“Is that really all it is?” 

Rick looked between them all and considered telling them what’s been happening, if only he knew  _ what _ it was. “It’s… it’s nothing.” 

“I don’t think it is nothing.” Pat sighed and pulled up a seat next to him. “Look, we can train all day, but you guys are a team and if you can’t trust each other-”

“Whoa, whoa that’s not- I do trust you guys!” Rick exclaimed, quick to refute the very idea that he didn’t. “It’s just…. uhhh. It’s gonna sound crazy... and stupid.”

“Crazy and stupid? Pretty on-brand for us, if we’re being honest.” Courtney said with a chuckle, trying to be encouraging.

“Yeah, you can tell us anything!” Beth joined in, putting her arms around Courtney and Yolanda, pulling them in closer. “We won’t judge.”

Rick stood up and exhaled, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “Uhh, well. I… I think,” he paused and fidgeted, trying to figure out the best way to phrase this. Ok, he’ll say it, he’s just gonna say it. “I think I’m psychic?”

Silence. Rick looked up to see Pat harbor an expression somewhere in between confusion and complete disbelief, Beth looked like she was trying to solve polynomials in her head, and Yolanda and Courtney just stared at him about the same way probably anyone would after a friend told them they were psychic. 

“You're right, that is crazy.” Yolanda blurted out, getting over her stupor first.

Rick threw up his hands in an  _ I told you so _ manner, turning away from them. 

"Ok, hang on," Pat held up a hand to stop him, spinning him back around to face them. "Wha- why do you think that? What's been happening?"

"I've been… seeing things, I guess? Like, things that I know haven't happened when I see them, but then… it does happen? Makes zero sense, right?"

"How long have you been seeing things?" Beth inquired, eyebrows furrowed.

Rick ran his hands through his hair, as he tried to compile moments he felt like he was rewatching something in real life. “I don't know, it's not- I haven't been hallucinating my whole life or anything. It’s like… in dreams sometimes. Everything just feels so familiar when I wake up. But I mean, I never used to remember my dreams! I usually forget all of them by morning.”

“Maybe that’s it then! You know... people dream about things that are familiar to them, maybe it’s just recall and you got your wires crossed,” reasoned Courtney, Pat nodding his head beside her.

“That’s what I thought too! At first,” Rick revealed, biting on a fingernail. “But this time… I wasn’t asleep. It just, like, hit me earlier, before I came to meet you guys. I knew everything that was gonna happen today in the woods, down to the letter.”

“If you knew Pat was going to hit you, why didn’t you catch his fist? Or move out of the way or something?” Yolanda asked, still a bit disbelieving.

“That’s when the vision, or premonition, or whatever you wanna call it, ended. I only saw up until I said-” Rick stopped himself, realizing something. “Wait. I didn’t even finish saying the thing I said. Did that change the outcome of-”

“Whoa, wait, back up! I think we’re getting ahead of ourselves here with this time travel logic.” Beth cried, waving her hands up to get everyone to stop for a second. “Question: was that the only clear vision you’ve had?”

“Yeah. But there was also that incident in the cafeteria that I must’ve dreamt about in history, because I did know that was gonna happen! And then this morning with my neighbor’s dog, I knew its name before she said it. And in English, I knew to catch Ms. Thompkins’ bottle …” Rick trailed off, plopping back down in his chair, head spinning. This was a  _ lot _ for one guy to take in in one day.

Pat then spoke up, rubbing his chin in contemplation. “When did you start remembering your dreams?”

“Well, I still don’t. I mean, not really, it’s like bits and pieces by the next day. Though, it used to be just a big blank, until…” Rick flicked his gaze over to his friends and teammates. “Until I started hanging out with you guys.”

Pat looked to Courtney, exchanging curious glances with her. “When have the things that you’ve seen happen to you, like in the present time? Any chance you’ve been keeping track?”

Rick shrugged, prompting Beth to jump in with her current log of events. “Well, if he saw what happened at lunch in history, that’s end of 3rd period, so 11 to 12? Then the next time was when school started, so around 7 to 8, 8:30, and the most recent one happened right as we let out, maybe it was 1:55?”

“And we left the forest right before 3,” Yolanda supplied, coming to the same conclusion everyone else was probably figuring out. “That’s about an hour gap each time, give or take.”

“It’s been pretty precise, I’d say,” Rick clarified. “Well, I think. I mean, I had the vision at 1:55, and whatever happened after I got knocked down, which I’m guessing was at 2:55, was new to me.”

“So, what, this is all the hourglass? How could it be doing that?” Courtney wondered, looking to Pat for enlightenment.

“I don’t know if it is from the hourglass. At least, Rex never showed this kind of… precognition,” Pat mumbled, scratching his head from the sheer perplexity of it all. “Unless it just awakened something in  _ you _ … given you’ve never remembered your dreams or gotten whole visions before. But there’s no way of knowing if you could always do this and just never aware or if your father intended for this to happen… it’s a mystery.”

“Great, as if my life didn’t suck enough already,” Rick scoffed, looking down at his feet. “Just add to that the fact that I’m a freak.”

“Hey, no, you are not a freak.” Courtney argued, kneeling down next to him to catch his eye and drive her point home. “Rick… you’re not.”

“Well, you are a little bit,” Yolanda said, a small smile on her face. “But which one of us isn’t a little weird? Plus, seeing the future? Beyond cool, dude.”

Rick rolled his eyes, his mouth turning up at the edges a bit, regardless. “Yeah, well, I wish it felt like that. Or at least stop giving me a searing headache every single time.”

“Is that why you’ve been having trouble falling asleep?” asked Beth, reaching out to place a hand on his shoulder. “Does it hurt when you see this stuff?” 

“Yeah,” he replied plainly. “But I’ll manage, I’ve had worse hangovers.”

The other four were still clearly concerned, but they didn’t say anything more. What else could they say? It’s not like there was a cure for his troubles. All they could do was make sure Rick had someone to lean on, after all these years he didn’t have anyone. 

“So…” Courtney ventured first to break the silence. “You guys want to eat some volcano chocolate?”

**Author's Note:**

> Did you guys know Cameron Gellman (who plays Rick) is in this 2018 TV series adaption of The Heathers? He plays the character of Kurt, which in this version is a gay, dumbass jock, and he's just super cute in it. Please look up a clip (specifically Heather Duke Breaks Up w/Kurt), he's great, they're all great, for real. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
